Well, we're hearing from the usual suspects again - and now it's all about how bad the Bush Administration is for their "Failure" to adequately "Up-Armor" Humvees.

Well, if we can get our emotions in check and turn on our craniums for a minute, let's look at the situation rationally:

1) Humvees were never intended to be armored personnel carriers (we HAVE APCs for that!). They are simple motorized transportation, that not long ago would have been relegated to a jeep - which rarely had even a canvas door on it!

2) Outfitting an "Up-Armored" Humvee is not a simple matter of slapping on a couple of sheets of steel plating. The armor kit weighs upward of a couple of TONS. Installing it then requires modification of the suspension to carry that extra weight, of the braking system (you don't want heavy vehicles ramming into the rear of the one in front of it because it can't stop with all that added weight, do you?), and even the engine & transmission require adjustment to enable the newly heavyweight machine to perform in uneven terrain. All this takes time and money.

3) The administration is moving men and material as quickly as possible to accomplish the up-armor process... yet it must be borne in mind that no amount of modification will make our troops and equipment invulnerable. Roadside bombs can and do take out vehicles heavier and better armored than an up-armored Humvee.

4) We are engaged in fighting a guerrilla insurgency, where any person you see could suddenly become an enemy combatant, where everywhere you go could be booby-trapped with an "improvised explosive device". There will be casualties. We are not invulnerable, nor is it reasonable to expect that we can be made so. The only real protection for our troops is to defeat and neutralize the enemy. To that end, we are using intelligence, technology, manpower and weaponry in an ongoing, yet progressively successful endeavor to dessimate the enemy and diminish their ability to attack us.

5) Today we suffered a rocket attack in Mosul. This attack killed 19 US soldiers and 3 others. Would armored Humvees have helped them? They were attacked while eating lunch! Shall we now harden our cafeterias? How about armor plated messhalls?!

No, pulling into a turtle shell is not, nor has it ever been the answer. The Administration is taking the necessary steps to better protect our troops, while not diverting from the primary objective... seek and destroy the enemy where he is, and give democracy a foothold in the land of the former Saddam regime. Notice that lately more IRAQIs are being killed by the insurgency than US Troops are being killed. That's an indication that the Iraqi people are starting to 'get it' and move toward self-government in a democratic nation. It also indicates the despiration of the insurgents, as we become more difficult to hit, and the people of Iraq become more of a threat to them - as they become more independent of them.